Wall construction



OCL'ZO, 1942. BELL 2,299,205

' WALL CONSTRUCTION Filed March 21, 1940 INVENTOR vomv 6(6. 551L- ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 20, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WALL CONSTRUCTION John H. G. Bell, White Plains, N. Y.

Applidation March 21, 1940, SBriaI NO. 325,165

.5 Claims.

This invention relates to wall constructions utilizing wallboards fastened to supports and especially to such wallboards having a core of frangible material'between sheets of material acting as stress-resisting membranes at the surfaces of the core. The invention particularly relates to such corner constructions using wallboards of gypsum, so-called plaster wallboards.

In the patent to Thurman, 1,819,345, of August 18, 1931, is disclosed a corner piece of gypsum wallboard made by cutting through the back cover paper and breaking the gypsum core and then moving the severed parts into angular relation with each other using the front cover paper as a hinge. As shown in said patent corner devices of this type may be made for the right angle corners of rooms orso as to approximate curved surfaces by a series of such cuts and fractures, retaining the continuous front cover paper across each of the fractures. A continuous cover paper in such a device provides continuity of finish across the joint at the corner without the use of fillers and other means which in the art have been adopted to conceal such joints between wallboard members. Moreover, the cover paper because of its bond to the cores of the parts or members of the corner piece provides a reinforcement at the corner which acts to resist crack producing movements of the wallboard members in the two walls which meet at the corner.

A weakness, however, of the device disclosed in the Thurman patent exists because of the rear cover paper having been severed. The desirable cooperation of the rear cover paper with the core, therefore, is entirely lost insofar as the portions of the material which are adjacent the corner is concerned. It is an object of the invention to restore and compensate for this loss of strength and the cooperation of the rear cover paper while retaining the advantages of the device disclosed in the Thurman Patent No. 1,819,345 insofar as the resistance capacity of the front cover paper is concerned and its function as a covering for the joint.

According to the invention, at the rear faces of the parts or members of the corner piece of the Thurman patent and so as to stretch across from one part or member to the other is applied a sheet or membrane of reinforcing material. This membrane or sheet is held against the rear faces of the said parts or members by adhesive or by other means to secure a strong bond or engagement of said membrane or sheet respectively to or with said parts or members. It is space which results from the movement of the two parts or members of the corner piece into planes which are at an angle to each other this membrane or sheet extends in a plane from the edge which is at the rear face of one of said parts or members to the edge which is at the rear face of the other part or member. This portion of the reinforcing sheet or membrane, therefore, may act as a tension member upon which immediately stress will come which results from movements of the wallboard members or the Walloonstruction. As this portion of the sheet or membrane in the corner piece lies substantially in a plane it is capable of immediately taking the stress in the straight line or plane action necessary for the membrane under tension. Thus substantially the resistance available in the flat unscored wallboarcl by virtue of the rear cover paper is restored by the reinforcing action of the membrane or sheet. In some cases it may be increased by use of suitable materials for the reinforcing.

A convenient method of erection of corner pieces of this type embodying the invention may be carriedout as follows. A slab of wallboard is cut at its rear cover paper and broken. in the manner described in the Thurman patent No. 1,819,345. By means of adhesive or other securing means the reinforcing membrane or sheet is applied to this rear face of the slab in its flat position and across the cut and the break, being pressed into fiat adhering contact therewith. The slab thus prepared may then be lifted in its flat condition and carried to the corner where it is to be placed in position. By moving the wallboard parts or'members which are at either side of the cut and break into angular relation by hinging upon the front cover paper and relying on the slip of the reinforcing membrane, such as may occur when it is applied with adhesive, these parts or members of the corner piece may be brought into the desired angular relation corresponding to the corner in which the corner piece is to be erected. The corner piece thus placed may be fastened in position by nailing or other suitable means. It will'be understood that in this bending action the reinforcing sheet or membrane Will become taut and extend across the angular space between the edge surfaces which are formed on each part or member by the break of the slab. Thus the reinforcing membrane or sheet is put under slight tension and lies in a plane stretching between lines of the edges which are at the rear face of the respective a feature of the invention that across the angular wallboard parts or members of the corner piece.

The corner piece being in its final position by the method just described, upon setting of the adhesive or other permanent means of securing being accomplished the reinforcing member remains in the taut condition in the plane referred to and thus is capable of taking the strains produced by movement of the walls or wallboard members mentioned above.

The improved device of the invention has particular application in so-called floating corner constructions in which the wallboard parts which are adjacent the corner are not fastened to the studs or other supports which are at the corner but are fastened to studs or supports which are distant from the corner. In such constructions the cooperation of the two wallboards in the two walls which are at angles to each other and which meet at the corner has been secured by various means proposed in the art. In the present invention this cooperation is secured not only by the continuous front cover paper but in addition by the reinforcing membrane or sheet which substantially secures in such a corner piece the action of a cover paper extending around a corner. Thus the advantage to be gained in a floating corner by avoidance of fasteners at the comer which Would transmit to the wallboard members strains produced by crack producing movements of the supporting members, such as the studs, is maintained while securing a corner member which has a strength and resistance to movement of the parts thereof approaching, if not equal to, that of the plane slab of uncut, unbroken wallboard.

The invention has application also in laminated wall constructions of the type disclosed in the Hummer Patent No. 2,123,677 and may be embodied in constructions utilizing corner pieces of the type of the Thurman patent arranged in laminated arrangement at the corners.

Within the scope of the invention the reinforcing membrane may be of such form and of such materialsas to take the stress of tension only or it maybe so formed and of such materials as to resist both tension and thrust. the constructions utilizing wallboards with a frangible core and cover sheets such as gypsum wallboard with paper cover sheets, a membrane which is of flexible character and capable of substantial resistance under tension is used because such a reinforcing membrane provides similar resistance to stress as do the cover sheets, lends itself to ease of making and erecting the corner pieces. Moreover, as has been described above, this reinforcing membrane acts together with the front cover sheet which has not been severed. Such a flexible reinforcing membrane may be of paper or similar felted fabric or may be of textile fabric. When a reinforcing sheet capable of thrust is used the material of which it is made may be stiff fibre board or other material capable of being fabricated into a sheet having a substantial stiffness and having the capacity to be Preferably, in

bound, preferably by adhesive, to the cover pa- I pers of the corner piece.

The invention will be more fully understood from the following discussion in connection with th drawing, in which Fig. 1 shows in section a corner construction embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 shows the embodiment of the invention in a laminated corner construction.

In Fig. 1 a wallboard corner piece I is formed in the manner described in the Thurman patent to provide the part or member 2 to be positioned in one wall at an angle with respect to the part or member 3 positioned in the other wall. The cores 4 and 5 have been broken apart in the manner described in said patent and respectively lie between portions of the continuous cover paper 6 and the rear cover papers I and 8 which were severed to produce the corner piece. Upon the rear cover papers 1 and 8 and held thereto by suitable means, preferably by an adhesive capable of setting with a strong bond, are lapped the portions I0 and II of the reinforcing membrane or sheet 9. This reinforcing sheet has its central portion l4 extending from the edge [2 of the part or member 2 to the edge 13 of the part or member 3. As described above, if this sheet is made taut in the plane of these edges, when the adhesive is set the central portion l4 of the reinforcing sheet 9 is capable of taking stress brought upon it by movement of one wall with respect to the other tending to move the part or member 2 relative to the part or member 3. This portion [4, extending across the angular space between the edges l2 and I3 of the parts 2 and 3, with the cooperation of the portions l9 and II of the reinforcing sheet 9 bonded to the cover papers l and 8, acts with the continuous cover paper 6 to resist such strains and such movements whether these movements are those of translation of the parts 2 and 3 relative to each other or whether they are movements tending to bring these parts into a different angular relation than that in which the corner piece is erected and intended to be held.

As shown in Fig. 1 the part or member 2 is nailed to the stud IS with its edge adjacent another wallboard member fastened to this stud which continues along the wall. The part or member 3, as shown in Fig. 1, is continuous past the stud l6 and is nailed thereto and may reach to a third stud, not shown, where also it may be fastened. There are no fastening to the studs l1 and 18 which are positioned at the corner as backing supports to take pressure which may come upon the face of the parts or members 2 of the corner piece I. In this respect the figure shows the usual construction of a floating corner.

In Fig. 2 a corner piece I similar to that of Fig. 1, is erected in laminated relation to a corner piece 20, also formed after the manner of the Thurman patent, to provide parts or members 22 and 23 held together by the continuous cover paper 24 bonded respectively to the cores 25 and 26. Upon the rear faces of these cores are bonded the cut-apart portions 21 and 28 of the rear cover paper of the slab from which the corner piece 20 was formed. Like parts and members of the corner piece I carry like numerals, as in Fig. 1. The corner piece I may be adhesively bonded or otherwise firmly held to the corner piece 20. If adhesive is used the cover papers 1 and 8 become respectively bonded to the portions of the continuous cover paper 24 which is at the front side of the corner piece 28.

In Fig. 2 the membrane or sheet 9 has its portions I0 and II bonded as by an adhesive to the cover papers 1 and 8 in the manner described in connection with Fig. 1. The corner piece thus formed may be set against the corner piece 2|] and by virtue of the reinforcing of the sheet or membrane 9 will provide a rigid corner piece which, because of this rigidity, will assist the corner piece 20 in preventing movement of the wallboard parts or members thereof which lie in the respective walls and movement of these walls relative to each other. Preferably, however, the corner piece I is adhesively bonded to the corner piece so that the rigidity secured by the corner piece I is directly transmitted to the corner piece 20. Conversely the rigidity of the respective members 22 and 23 of the corner piece 20 is able to cooperate with the corner piece I to secure rigidity of the corner construction as a whole. It will be apparent that the feature of the invention according to which the reinforcing membrane or sheet is used extending in a plane across the angular space between the fractured edges of the corner piece is embodied in the corner construction illustrated in Fig. 2 as well as in that of Fig. 1.

While the invention for the most part has been described in connection with a reinforcing membrane or sheet which is of the type to receive the stress of tension put upon it, within the scope of the invention the membrane or sheet 9 may be of sufficient stiffness to resist thrust when stress is put upon the corner piece which would tend to move the edges l2 and I3 toward each other. Such movement may result from stress which would tend to move the parts or members 2 into wider angular relation than that in which they were erected. By th selection of suitable materials the reinforcing membrane or sheet 9 may be made so as to take such thrusts as well as stress of tension as described above.

Having thus described my invention I now claim:

1. A wallboard corner piece comprising two body members in planes at an angle to each other and with their edges adjacent each other to form a corner, said members having edge surfaces respectively transverse to said planes and forming an angular opening therebetween, a continuous cover sheet held to the faces of said body members which form the interior angle at said corner, and a sheet of reinforcing material held to the opposite faces of said body members and extending between the edges of said body members which are formed at said rear faces thereof and in a plane across the angular opening between said edges of said body members.

2. A corner piece comprising two parts or members having bodies of frangible material in the form of sheets or slabs having edge surfaces which respectively are transverse to the faces of said slabs, said slabs being positioned in planes at an angle to each other and with said edge surfaces adjacent but at an angle to each other which substantially is equal to said angle between said planes, a continuous cover paper adhering to the faces of said bodies which form the interior angle of said corner piece, and a piece of sheet reinforcing material adhering to the opposite faces of said parts or members and extending from one to the other in the plane of the edges respectively formed by said transverse surfaces and said opposite faces of said parts or members.

3. A corner piece comprising two core members of frangible material in the form of sheets or slabs having edge surfaces which respectively are transverse to the faces of said slabs, said slabs being positioned in planes at an angle to each other and with said edge surfaces adjacent but at an angle to each other which substantially is equal to said angle between said planes, a continuous cover paper adhering to the faces of said core members which form the interior angle of said corner piece, cover papers on the opposite faces of said core members which extend substantially to said transverse surfaces, and a piece of sheet reinforcing material adhering to said cover papers on said opposite faces of said core members and extending from one to the other in the plane of the edges formed by said transverse surfaces and said faces of said opposite cover papers.

4. A laminated wall construction comprising a corner piece having two body members in planes at an angle to each other and with their edges adjacent each other to form a corner and having a continuous cover sheet held to the faces of said body members which form an interior angle at said corner, said members having edge surfaces at said corner respectively transverse to said planes to form an angular space therebetween, a second corner piece similar to said first corner piece and having its body members respectively opposed to the body members of said first corner piece with its continuous cover sheet in contact with the first corner piece, and a sheet of reinforcing material held to the faces of the body members of said first corner piece which are in contact with the continuous cover sheet of said second corner piece, said sheet of reinforcing material being held in stress-resisting engagement with said faces of said first corner piece and extending in taut condition across the space between the edges of its body members which are at the faces of said continuous cover sheet of said second corner piece.

5. A laminated corner construction comprising a corner piece having two core members of frangible material in the form of slabs having edge surfaces which respectively are transverse to the faces of said slabs, said slabs being positioned in planes at an angle to each other and havingadhering to both of the faces of said core members cover papers one of which at the interior angle faces of said corner piece is continuous from one core member to the other, the other cover papers extending to and stopping substantially at said transverse edge surfaces, a second similar corner piece comprising two core members of frangible material in the form of slabs having edge surfaces which respectively are transverse to the faces of said slabs, said second corner piece having its core members positioned in planes at said angle to each other and with their edge surfaces adjacent but at an angle to each other and having cover papers at either face of its core members one of which cover papers is continuous upon the interior angle faces of said second corner piece, and a sheet of reinforcing material adhering to the cover papers of one of said corner pieces which are at the faces of its core members opposite to its continuous cover sheet, said reinforcing material extending from one of said members to the other in the plane in which lie the edges respectively formed by the transverse surfaces and the faces of the cover papers of the corner piece to which it adheres, said two corner pieces being adjacent each other with the continuous cover paper of one in contact with the faces of the other corner piece which are opposite to the continuous cover paper of the other.

JOHN H. G. BELL. 

